The Opelousas courier., 1887-01-22
AGRICULTURAL
TOPICS OF INTEREST RELATIVE
10 FARM AND GARDEN.
Fattening Hogs.

E%8E &
II is the part Of ! good farmer to con
duct oil his operations on the best ane
least expensive plan. His chief profit,
arise from doing things at the right time
IN the best manner and with the leasi
pos IDLE expense. In nothing does thi,
show itself more plainly THANH In f~attcnina
of hogs.
The most important point in this di
rection is to begin so early in the fall
that his hogs will be ready for the knife
as 0 as the weather is cold ENOUGH ri,
salt!ng and curing pork-it being d we'll,
established fact that hogs will fatten
faster and on less food when the wcafhe,
is mild than when IL IS exec sively ed.
Az striking example Of this, from an
experiment made last fall at the VT iscon.
sin Experimental Fam. it was found
that a lot of hogs weighed and shut IN
70 fatten on the tenth day of October.
and weighed again on the twenty third
day of November, just forty.four DAYS.
had gained ten pounds each for every
bushel Of corn each had eaten. They
were again weighed just forty-four DAYS
thereafter, when it was found that they
had only gained four pounds each for
every bushel Of corn each had eaten, thus
going to show that a hog will gain more
than double as much on the same amount
OF food when the weather is mild as ii
will VIII tie weather is intensely cold.
In this respect the animal system is like
Q stove the colder the weather the more
fuel food it requires to keep up the in
terHal heat. for let the weather be as cold
as it will, the temperature of the body
must be kept up to the normal
point OF n~inety-eight degrees, and
If the food is not more than
sufficient to supply this, there will
DC none to go to the formation IF fat
hence the colder the weather the larger
the consumption of food. A barrel of
corn in the latter fart of October and
first half of November, as shown above,
will 60 rs far and put on as much fat as
will two barrels in December and Janu-
airy, because it requires but half a. much
to keep up the animal heat. In other
words, the loss of heat from the animals
body is th n small, and therefore the
less food is required to keep it up.
For fattening purpose s there is nothing
~ SUU0 ~ GJkuJ DIS lG Is flcnef In Oily
matter than any other cereal or vegetable
substance used for the purpose. A plenty
Of charcoal during the time is also
especially useful, in that it corrects the
acidity to which the stomach of a hog is
30 subject when fed exclusively on corn.
Complete qu etude is also a matter of
The first importance, as it is well known
that an animal in confinement will fatte i
much faster than one whose liberty is n It
SO restricted a. to preventh him from taking
too much physical exercise. Muscular
exertion increases respirato ON and accel-
crates the flow of blood, which. as it
passes through the Lungs, becomes
charged with atmospheric oxygen, and
which latter introduced more freely
burns out the fat. Hence it is that in
confinement as o as a hog begins to
fatten the less inclined he Is for physical
exercise, aud consequently accnmulates
fat the faster. Ia other words, the faster
be grows the more sluggish he becomes
ard the more rapidly he take ON fat
Baltimore Sun.